1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a television receiver and a network information communication system, and more particularly to a television receiver and a network information communication system which are used in a network system that links to a mobile terminal as an information terminal apparatus and enables a user to control/view a content controllable by a television receiver in a home even away from home, and which can provide the user with a viewing environment, in which a re-viewing can be easily executed by using the television receiver without any special operation, even if various errors occur on the mobile terminal receiving/displaying the content on the move, leading to a difficult situation to view the content on the mobile terminal.
2. Related Background Art
Expectations are growing for a technique that enables a digital broadcast wave to be viewed by using the mobile terminal such as a cellular phone, a Personal Digital Assistance (PDA), or the like, and a technique that enables a broadcast content received by the television receiver or accumulated contents controllable by the television receiver, to be transmitted to and viewed by the mobile terminal. Those techniques enable a user to enjoy viewing the content even away from a living room of a home.
A ground wave digital broadcast, which employs Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM), is strong against multi-path interference. Thus, even if the movement causes the interference condition of the electric wave to be changed from moment to moment, the electric wave can be received by using a small antenna built in an apparatus without using a large antenna such as an outdoor installation type, without the image being easily disordered. The technique in which the broadcast content is viewed by using the mobile terminal is about to be established on the basis of the above-mentioned technical features.
Also, there is a demand that the once-accumulated content be received by using the mobile terminal. Such an apparatus, method, and system as to meet the demand are noted in JP 2002-77839 A. In the technique noted in JP 2002-77839 A, a recording request is transmitted from the mobile terminal through a network to a recorder with a television broadcast receiving function, and the recorder receiving this request records the designated content. The recorder also transmits the recorded content through the network to the mobile terminal in accordance with the instruction from the mobile terminal. The usage of this technique enables the user to view the accumulated contents away from home by using the mobile terminal.
The network system that enables the content of the television receiver in the home to be controlled and viewed away from home by using the mobile terminal, and a television receiver used therein, is a technique that is great in user needs and extremely promising.
Due to such techniques, the user can avoid the risk that the user misses the desired content because the user goes out suddenly unexpectedly or forgets a recording reservation, and the user can also view the desired content on the move. Thus, the user can further effectively utilize the time.
The following problems are found out from the above-mentioned technical considerations of the inventors of the present invention. For example, in the mobile terminal on the move, errors are often induced depending on a reception state. If such an error makes the normal viewing difficult, it may be an option that the user views the continuation of the content after returning home. However, the operation at that time becomes troublesome.
Also, it is assumed that the user is moving while viewing the content controllable by the television receiver, by using the mobile terminal away from home. If the user is moving by transportation means at a relatively high speed, for example, by train or by car, the reception environment of the mobile terminal is changing from moment to moment. Sometimes, the user may possibly enter the area such as the inside of a tunnel where the reception state is bad, or may possibly go outside the range of the reception coverage area of the mobile terminal. In such cases, the mobile terminal cannot receive the electric wave, which leads to the state of a reception error, and the content cannot be provided to the user. Other than such a reception error, the various errors related to the operation state of the mobile terminal may possibly occur such as a communication error caused by the communication load situation of a line and a decode error caused by the processing performance of the mobile terminal. Naturally, similar errors also occur on the move even at a low speed such as during a walk, although there is a difference in degree.
As mentioned above, if an error occurs, when the mobile terminal is used away from home to view the content controllable by the television receiver, thereby making the viewing difficult, the inventors of the present invention assume that the user again views the content after returning home. If the user is especially fond of the content, the case that the user again views it from the beginning is sufficiently conceivable. However, the inventors of the present invention assume that the user usually skips over the already-viewed portion and again views it from the portion where the viewing became difficult.
Depending on the manner of the error occurrence at the mobile terminal, if there are several places where the viewing is difficult, the viewing method may be considered to check only the portions after returning home.
In those various situations, when the user, after returning home, sets the television receiver at the viewable state in order to again view the content and then displays the content on the television receiver, if the replay position of the content differs from the desired position, the user cannot view the content from the desired position before carrying out fast-forwarding and rewinding operations or equivalent operations to adjust the replay position. In this way, the user is forced to carry out the plurality of the above-mentioned operations at a time immediately after returning home. Moreover, if the number of the replay positions desired to be viewed is plural, all of the desired places can be viewed only after the above-mentioned operations are repeated many times.
The consumer product such as a television set is considered to be used by a wider range of users layers, differently from a personal computer and the like. Some of the users are far from being acquainted with the minute operation of the apparatus. It is very difficult to imagine that such users willingly carry out the above-mentioned operations. Even an excellent technique that is greatly expected by the user will not come into widespread use unless it is supported by the user from the viewpoint of the user interface.
In this way, when the continuation of the content viewed by using the mobile terminal away from home is viewed by using the television receiver, excellent operability is desired from the viewpoint of the user interface.